sick, isolated and lacking hope

Apologies in advance as this is a bit of a rant post. There may be clues and information within the depressive nature of the post for which I would welcome advice on. Also it's quite long, so make sure you are well nourished, hydrated and have enough reading energy if you attempt to get through it all.

This post of anguish and desperation is mainly born out of a monstrous Sugar binge. Over the course of an evening I've eaten 2 Easter eggs, 3 whisper bars and some quality street, born out of an extremely depressive day of gas, abdominal aches and loose stools. Its been a few hours since then and I've pretty much been on the toilet since with diarrhoea. Better out than in I guess. Candida will be having a field day. Previous dietary slip up was at Christmas. I certainly don't deserve any sympathy for this and feel I'm in a health hole that I'm simply not able to climb out of.

Attributes

Age: 24
Sex: male
Height: 6ft 2
Weight: 10stone

Symptoms

fatigue
light sensitivity
abdominal ache
constipation
loose stools/diarrhoea
pale stools
bloating
gas
nausea
distended belly
feverish, stuffy head (worse in eve)
weight loss (underweight)
upper right ache under rib cage (liver/gallbladder). A feeling of 'heaviness'.
food sensitivities – dairy, gluten, yeast, nuts, nightshades, citrus fruits, spices, garlic.
cravings
hypoglycemia
insomnia (or exhaustive unrefreshing sleep)
post nasal drip
pigmentation/ liver spots
itchy ears
oily hair
dark, reddish exhausted eyes
racing mind
brain fog
depression
neck ache
apathy
pins and needles in legs/feet upon waking
frequent dark shaded yellow urination (typically in morning, water intake is high enough for clear urine during the day)
joint and muscle ache (joint – knees, muscle – upper chest/pecs, lower back)

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say I feel like I'm dying slowly.

Upbringing

No significant health problems growing up, accept for......

Born premature with jaundice
Aesthma early teens which I grew out of
Growth spurt resulting in lower back ache still present to this day
On and off Antibiotics for Acne on chest and back.

No history of drug or alcohol abuse. Diet has been poor, and unknowingly worsening up until the point my illness became prominent.

If anyone has any suggestions for tests, orthodox or alternative I would welcome some ideas. I became disillusioned pretty early on with orthodox medicine although I haven't had many tests accept for some standard blood work and a round of blood tests from an endocrinologist, all came back normal.

Do people think a colonoscopy/endoscopy would be interesting even if I was likely to reject any pharmaceuticals? The digestive/liver complaints are the most difficult to manage despite not being the first symptoms to crop up.

What sort of liver tests are done as standard? Could these be done by a gastro as well as any bowel tests? I'd prefer to avoid any unnecessary evasive tests such as biopsy's or anything that puts a stress on my body such as a GTT or ACTH stimulation test that might leave me worse off.

We don't have naturopathic doctors in the UK so will scan the country for doctors with even a remote interest in natural healing.

What do people feel to 'alternative' diagnostics such as stool analysis or liver detoxification profile tests? (Not that I'm able to form a solid stool for the test anyway). The general consensus seems to be that these are expensive and inconclusive, often showing a certain deficiency or random parasite that the patient blindly pursues. Happy to try anything that may of use. The phase 1 and 2 liver detoxification test looks useful if it's reliable?

I've done 2 adrenal stress tests, a year between them both. Not much difference between the 2 with slightly low cortisol in the morning and high in the evening. Technically it would indicate some degree of adrenal fatigue, which is understandable given my overall poor health.

Lifestyle

Sedentary, mainly as a result of my symptoms. Somehow I have managed to hold onto my office job, although it's usually straight to bed with the laptop when I get in due to lack of energy and friendships.

Shy, anxious, addictive, perfectionist personality growing up. Diet and hypoglycemia were the first symptoms to 'be revealed', as well as post nasal drip. Steadily declining health for about 20 months now.

Alternative angles pursued

Candida – Likely to be present in some form. I have experienced die-off but am unable to tackle it aggressively due to stress on the liver and body in general. Sugar cravings are a clue but then this would be present in many other illnesses no doubt. Had a couple of short colonics which haven't offered any lasting relief.

Leaky gut – Again I show many of the symptoms. Healing formula's and supplements have seldom helped.

parasites – Not in a position to attempt any aggressive herbal cleansing. I suspect certain pathogens are likely to be present but not as a cause.

Adrenal fatigue – Have followed 'regimes' by practitioners of B, C vitamins, glandulars etc to no avail. Digestion hasn't really picked up on these plans and as such feel I'm not absorbing the nutrients needed to build the adrenals. Symptoms suggest this is somewhat a part of my illness.

Liver congestion – Starting to believe this is playing a significant role in my poor health, especially my bowel health and inability to absorb nutrients. The most obvious sign is the tenderness and dull ache/heaviness around the liver and gallbladder area beneath my rib cage on the right side. Belly distension, constipation, nausea, loose stools and diarrhoea, pale stools, abdominal ache, gas and bloating could all be a congested liver and/or bile problems, as well as a circulating toxicity feeling causing feverish and almost flu like symptoms constantly. The emotional stress over the years is likely to fundamentally have weakened the liver, although the same could be said for other organs/systems such as the adrenals and bowel.

Digestion – Fundamentally need to get this working. Have tried bitters, B vitamins, HCL, digestive enzymes. The Chinese bitters constipate me, B vitamins I don't feel I'm absorbing, apple cider vinegar irritates my stomach and gut, HCL and DE's may be helping but it's hard to tell. Probiotics are constipating. Feels like I'm not absorbing or digesting any foods properly.

Thought I may have experienced a break through a couple of weeks back with consistent well formed and well coloured bowel movement for a few days in a row but this didn't last. My attempts to 'copy' the dietary and supplemental regime that I followed during this period have not been successful.

So there you have it. I'm in pretty bad shape. This Sugar binge is likely to have set me back significantly. It literally wizzed through my system within a few hours resulting in diarrhoea. Not that I want chocolate lingering in my body but the speed with which it passed through me is slightly concerning and confirms my poor health.

Happy to consider any comments on any of the above and perhaps some words of encouragement from anyone that has literally pulled themselves from the depts of illness back into good or even reasonable health from a situation like mine.

Also open to dialogue or buddy up with any like minded peeps out there that might be interested in the odd email exchange. Despite the above I'm actually a fairly chirpy and humorous guy, although this is often suppressed by my poor health.

Particularly interested in hearing from those that have held down office or computers jobs or negotiated sedatry/isolated lifestyles that tend to feed Depression and isolation.

Hoping for a miracle. Thank you for reading.

Matt